


Whispers of Fate

by ImaginaRose



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s03e16 The Southern Raiders, F/M, Gen, One Shot Collection, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Tags Added As I Go, writing propts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-10-29 04:10:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17800820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaginaRose/pseuds/ImaginaRose
Summary: Collection of AtLA one shots, inspired mostly by Atlawritingprompts on Tumblr. For chapters, where this is the case, there will be a link to the prompts.





	1. Bloodbending

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: https://atlawritingprompts.tumblr.com/post/182816581660/1  
> Zuko asks Katara about bloodbending... finally.

The waves washed over the shores of the Ember Island. The Comet was getting nearer by the day, and they pushed harder than before to be ready.

But even in all the haze, all the practice… something kept bugging him. He didn’t have the courage to ask before. What kind of power was that? Where did it come from?

He wasn’t even sure he wanted to know.

Katara was standing at the shore, still in the Fire Nation reds. The sun was slowly setting. He walked closer to her.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, no hostile, but curious.

“I…” Suddenly, he wasn’t sure, what to say. He took a deep breath. “I wanted to ask about something. Since our… trip.”

Katara sighed and turned away, stepping forward. He couldn’t see her face anymore, so he followed her, stepping into the water. The small waves washed over his ankles.

“I was just curious. But if you don’t want to talk about it…”

“Did you ask the others?” she whispered. “Do they know I did it?”

“Why would I?” he shook his head. “I wanted do ask you.”

“Thanks for that…” She sighed, walking further into the sea. “I swore to myself I would never do it again. But I did… on an innocent person. I guess I really am not much better than Hama after all.”

“I’m sort of lost.”

“After Ba Sing Se… after Aang got better… we ended up separated from the rest of our Tribe. So we decided to make it to the Capital on our own and meet them there. We travelled through the Fire Nation for a while…” She paused. He didn’t say anything. “We met this old woman – Hama. She is… well, probably more like was, another bender from my Tribe. She was captured by the Fire Nation decades ago and escaped. And in that, she discovered a new way to bend water.” Another pause. Her voice was getting angrier. “It’s called Bloodbending. I think the name speaks for itself. It’s horrible and it can only be done under full moon – as far as I know. I’ve never tried it otherwise.”

She went silent, covering her face with her hands.

“I didn’t want to learn it.” she whispered. “But she forced me – she… she bent me. And the others.” Katara was shaking. After a moment, she stilled. “I had no choice. And I swore to myself I would never do it again.”

She continued into the waves. He noticed his feet were almost out of water – the tide was falling.

“You must think I’m a hypocrite. Calling you and the Fire Nation monsters, when I can do something like that.”

“Why would you be a monster?” he asked, confused. “No bending is inherently evil.”

He dared to make one step further. The sun was almost gone now.

“Correct me, if I’m wrong, but… I think I understand, how you feel,” he said after a while. “When I left the Fire Nation, after the eclipse… I felt so much guilt – over leaving and even more over what I did before I realized how so Agni damn stupid it all was. I finally saw Fire Nation for what it was – destructive and uncontrollable power. And… I felt like the element itself was to blame.”

Katara didn’t reply. She looked at the sun, which was far enough behind the horizon for it to be possible.

“But that’s not true. It’s not about the element. It’s about _who_ is controlling it. Just try and think of how many uses it could have – uses that aren’t bad in any way.”

“I don’t think there are many,” she shook her head.

“Do you think it could someone from bleeding out? Restart a heart?” he asked. “Think of how many lives it could save – if the right person was in control.”

“You think I could be that person?”

“I couldn’t think of anyone better.”


	2. Enemy of my enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko joins the Gaang after the Blue Spirit episode.  
> Prompt:  
> https://atlawritingprompts.tumblr.com/post/182859313619/5

Zuko looked at the swords on the wall. The message came in just minutes before. If the captain didn’t take it, he probably would have burned it before reaching the signature.

That smug…

But it was obvious, wasn’t it? He should have known Zhao would be the one to win their little personal competition.

He left the command deck immediately and headed for his room. There still was a chance…

He never even stood a chance.

Where was the honor in sneaking around masked, stealing what he couldn’t get on his own?

Where was the honor in trying to appease someone, who marked him for life as unworthy?

He wanted to punch something.

He heard the door open and someone stepping in.

“Prince Zuko, you can’t lose hope,” his uncle tried to encourage him.

“I’ve been thinking uncle… my father never really cared, had he?” His voice was silent, betraying him as he spoke the treacherous words. “It was pointless.”

“I don’t think he did.” His uncle replied. He couldn’t force himself to turn around. “Are you going to give up?”

“I’m not.” he shook his head. The light blue stone with blue ribbon was heavy on his wrist. “But I’m not sure I can continue either.”

“So, what _are_ you going to do?”

 _Something stupid_.

“I don’t know.” he sighed. “Something. Anything.”

“You have a plan?”

“Maybe…” Could he tell him?

“I want you to know… I won’t stand in your way. Whatever you decide to do.”

“Even if it was technically treason?”

“Especially.” Iroh walked into the room and closed the door. “But don’t tell that to anyone.”

“My father won’t ever have me back – and the only person worse than him… in any way… is Azula.” Zuko continued. “I can’t leave the world to them.”

“That’s a wise choice.” Iroh nodded. Zuko finally turned around, clutching the blue necklace. “Be careful. What you’ll be doing is dangerous. And you know my brother is far from the most forgiving person around.”

Zuko nodded, thoughtlessly touching the scar on his face.

“It’s not like I have much more to lose, is it?”

“You may not. But I do.” Iroh smiled and hugged him. “I don’t think I could handle losing you, too.”

“Uncle… you don’t have to say it…” Zuko muttered, knowing way too well, what his uncle meant to say.

“I do.” Iroh smiled, as he let him go. “Ever since I lost my son… I though of you as my own.

“I know.” Zuko nodded. “Thank you. For everything.”

***

_The forest was close. Just a little further._

_The Avatar was shaking slightly from fear._

_Just a little further and they would disappear in the forest._

_But they didn’t make it_.

The birds were singing. And someone was talking – the Avatar. He only caught last few sentences of whatever the boy was saying.

“You know what the worst part of being born over a hundred years ago is? I miss all the friends I used to hang out with. Before the war started, I used to always visit my friend Kuzon. The two of us, we'd get in and out of so much trouble together. He was one of the best friends I ever had, and he was from the Fire Nation, just like you. If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends, too?”

Zuko blinked. His head still hurt – something must have hit him really hard. Or fast. Or both.

“Maybe.” he replied, sitting up, massaging the side of his head. “What happened?”

“You got hit in the head by an arrow.” Aang replied. “It broke the mask.”

Zuko looked next to himself, where his swords and pieces of the mask laid.

“And you dragged me away?” he asked in surprise.

“And waited for you to wake up.” Aang nodded. “You saved my life. I owed you that much.”

“From what I know about Zhao, death would be the last thing to happen to you.” he mentioned, sheathing the swords.

“He mentioned something like that, yes.” Aang nodded.

“Where are we?” Zuko asked.

“In the forest. I couldn’t get that far.”

“They’ll look for us here soon.”

“Us?”

“Well… what I did does consider high treason.” Zuko explained. “I want to help you.”

“Why?”

“Because once it turned out I actually had a chance of capturing you, my father gave Zhao everything he asked for and then some to do it first.” Zuko replied. “It’s clear he doesn’t want me to come back. So, why try?”

“So, you join _us_?” Aang asked him in surprise.

He finally stood up, looking around. His bag wasn’t far.

“Yes.” he replied, heading for the place where he hid it. Aang followed, curious look on his face. “It’s the only way I can change anything.”

He found his bag, covered hastily by leaves and sticks and pulled it over his shoulder.

“I’d be glad to have you on the team. But I’m not sure how Katara and Sokka are gonna feel about it.”

“I’ll do my best.” Zuko smirked a bit. The kid’s positivity seemed to be contagious.

***

“I’ll starts a fire.” Zuko offered and looked at the boy. Aang nodded and walked to his friends with the frogs.

Zuko pulled down the hood of his clothes and put more wood into the now-cold firepit. With a single movement, he lit the wood on fire.

The couple begun coughing and spat out the frogs.

“Thanks for the help Aang, but I think I still have hallucinations.” Sokka muttered, wiping his eyes, crawling out of the sleeping bag.

“No, I see him too.” Katara assured him. “Aang… what happened?”

“It’s… a long story. I went to the nearby monastery to find a cure. And this old lady sent me down to the swamp for the frozen frogs – but I got caught my these super precise archers.”

“Yuayn archers.” Zuko added, looking through his bad. His hair was out of his ponytail, so it would fit under the hood and he was pretty sure it must have looked positively ridiculous.

“Whatever they’re called.” Aang waved his hand. After wading in the cold water, it wasn’t the worst thing to have around. “They caught me and dragged me into Zhao’s fortress.”

Katara and Sokka looked at each other.

“That’s why you took so long…” Katara looked outside. The sky was dark gray, the morning sun gone. Aang was gone for almost a whole day. “I shouldn’t have been so angry.”

“And what about him? How is he involved?” Sokka asked. Zuko finally found the hair tie and pulled his hair back again. He didn’t seem to mind them.

“He saved me.” Aang explained. “We escaped Zhao’s fortress and almost got into the forest. Before those archers took him out. So I dragged him into the woods, before they could get to us.”

“I think I forgot to say thank you for that.” Zuko finally spoke up again. “So, thank you.”

“No problem.” Aang assured him. “When he woke up, he said he wanted to join us.”

“You got hit into the head pretty hard, didn’t you?” Sokka looked at him, reaching for his boomerang.

“It was the plan all along.” Zuko assured him. “I promised Aang an explanation, so I will tell it to all of you.”

“What explanation could there be?” Katara asked, taking a sip of water from the pouch, before passing it to Sokka.

“I think I should start from the beginning. I’m not telling you this to make you feel sorry for me. I don’t want that.” he shook his head. “I just want you to understand, why I’m doing this.”

“Just say it.” Sokka sighed, taking the water pouch from Katara.

“Fine. About three years ago, I went to a war meeting for the first time. I was about thirteen, and I hoped to prove myself to my father – and learn about running the country, since I was the primary heir.” Zuko looked into the flames. “I was just supposed to sit there and listen, but I heavily disagreed with one of the generals and said so… a little too vocally. The general took offence to what I said and honor demanded it was settled by Agni-Kai. A firebending duel. I thought I was going to fight some old general, who didn’t have to bend in a fight for longer than I was alive… but I was wrong.”

Katara noticed Zuko clutched his fist, but he didn’t his anger show otherwise. The flames seemed to feel it, too, as they have risen a bit. Their heat reached much further.

“ _An insult in Fire Lord’s war room is an insult to Fire Lord himself_ ,” he said, almost like he repeated something once told to him. “And I couldn’t fight my own father. Backing out of Agni-Kai, or refusing to fight in it, is considered a great dishonor and cowardice.”

Almost thoughtlessly, he touched the scar on his face.

“My father burned me and banished me. Only way I could ever return was by bringing the Avatar with me.” Aang flinched away. “Which was seen as an impossible task. And until recently, it was.”

Zuko sighed.

“And once it proven possible, he sent Zhao with everything he could need and want for the hunt. _Because it’s highest priority task, that can’t just be given to a unreliable teenager_.” Zuko almost spat out the last sentence.

“You’re doing this to spite your dad?” Sokka looked at him in surprise.

“You can say it that way.” Zuko admitted.

“Your father made you that scar?” Katara asked. She seemed angry and somewhat… pitying at the same time.

Zuko nodded. “I told you I don’t want your sympathy.”

“That’s messed up.” Katara shook her head. “Next level messed up.”

“That’s not even a level.” Sokka nodded. “That’s thousand feet over the highest level.”

Zuko just looked at them. Just a minute ago, they were staring at him in contempt and mistrust. But now… they were angry. About what his father did to him.

He turned to his bag, looking through the things he brought. From the few pieces of clothing and a bag of food stuck out a blueish tube, tied around with a dark blue ribbon.

“I believe this is yours.” he said, as he untied it and handed Katara the necklace. She stared at it. “I know it means a lot to you. I’m sorry I took it.”

Katara didn’t say anything, just tied it around her neck.

“Thanks.” she smiled a bit.

“And… I brought you this. I thought you might find it useful.” he said, as he handed her the light blue scroll. “My uncle studied waterbending. He had several, but I only had time to take this one.”

“Waterbending scroll?” she carefully took it and opened it. It was definitely a different one than the one they were using. “This is really great.”

“Right. Great.” Aang nodded. “I should get some sleep before we take off. I didn’t get much tonight.”

“We’ll keep an eye on him.” Sokka assure Aang, as the boy jumped up on Appa’s back.

***

Katara fell asleep, soon, too. The two guys remained awake by the campfire. Zuko pulled out his swords and started cleaning them.

“Hey… Just so you know, I still don’t like you. And I don’t trust you. Aang is naïve, that he does.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything else.” Zuko shrugged his shoulders. “I was surprised by the way you reacted.”

“It’s horrible. You know, in the Water Tribe, family is the most important thing you have – your family and your Tribe. Hurting one’s family… that’s unthinkable. Especially like that. I can’t imagine not being able to trust my own family.”

“It sounds great.”

“In that way, definitely.” Sokka nodded. “Our father, and most of the other men, left the Tribe two years ago – to join the war. I was the oldest guy left in the village. Only one left to defend it.”

“I saw that.” Zuko couldn’t help but smirk, before putting his swords away again.

“I tried, okay.”

“I’m not denying that.” Zuko assured him. “Actually, I wanted to ask you about something.”

“Okay. About what?”

“I happen to know a bit about Water tribe culture – from my uncle. And I know that that necklace is a betrothal necklace. If you were the only man our age left in your tribe…”

“What? I didn’t even know that.” Sokka shook his head. “It belonged to our Grandma once. Our Tribe isn’t much in terms of tradition, ever since the war. Maybe not even before that.”

“Oh… I thought…” Zuko blushed a bit and scratched his neck. Sokka almost burst out laughing, but tried to still himself, so he wouldn’t wake up the sleeping couple.

“You have a lot to learn.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This can also work as a first chapter for a full-fledged fic. If people will like it, I might actually write it - even though I have like four other open projects. I really like this idea, though. I might do it regardless.


	3. Vengeance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yet another short inspired by @atlawriting prompts on Tumblr. This time its: https://atlawritingprompts.tumblr.com/post/183191191789/33  
> Katara kills Yon Rha.

Her heart was racing, as she looked at the face of the man. Of the murderer. All those years, not knowing anything but that.

The man was visibly terrified. She could swear she felt his heart beating even faster than her own.

Until that day, he was a nameless face, a painful memory.

But not anymore.

Yon Rha stared at the girl he once sent away, the girl, whose mother he murdered. The girl, who wasn’t little and helpless anymore.

She formed the barrier into swarm of ice daggers and sent them at him.

The worst memory of her life – her mother’s dead body – flashed in front of her face. She lost her focus.

And then, it was too late.

***

Zuko watched the unbelievable display of power. The barrier was huge. Her face screamed barely controlled anger, that burst out, as the barrier turned into ice daggers, aimed at the man.

He looked away.

When he looked again, he almost didn’t believe, what he saw. The man was unrecognizable, ice daggers poking out of every part of his body. There was a red spot in the mud, that kept getting bigger.

She did it.

He turned to her.

She stared at the body. He wasn’t sure, what he expected to happen, or how he expected her to react. Maybe he imagined Azula’s triumphant grin. But her expression was blank, frozen. She didn’t seem to react to the rain soaking through her hair and clothes and falling on her face.

“Katara?” he spoke after a moment.

She blinked fast, looking at him.

***

The daggers struck their target.

The rain seemed to disappear. The world might as well have shrunk to her and the expanding red staid in on the road. Because nothing else mattered.

Aang’s words echoed in her head. _“Katara, you sound like Jet.”_

He was right.

A sound broke through her frozen world. A single word whispered with care and fear. Her name.

She looked to where it came from.

She completely forgot Zuko was there, too.

“I didn’t mean to do it.” she cried out. She saw the fear in his eyes. “I just wanted to scare him… I lost focus…”

“I understand.” Zuko said simply. “We should go.”

 _You shouldn’t look at him,_ he added in his mind.

“You…” she wasn’t sure, what to say. Why was he like that? How could he look at her like that, after all that happened since they left the island? She felt the nearing tears. She was shaking – she wasn’t completely sure it was just the rain and cold.

She lost her stability and fell on her knees into the mud, the tears finally breaking through. And she couldn’t stop them.

Zuko lowered himself to her.

“Katara, it’s okay.” he said to her, carefully placing his hand on her shoulder.

“It’s not!” she barked at him through her tears. “I’m a monster.”

She buried her face in her hands. The tears almost burned against her numbed fingers.

“You’re not a monster.” he assured her. “I know, what monsters look like. And you’re not one of them.”

She didn’t react. She heard his words, but it felt like she lost the ability to understand them. She just cried. The cold seeped deeper and deeper into her bones and body, until she wasn’t sure she would be able to move.

She wasn’t sure she wanted to.

Minutes passed and she didn’t move. She only kept sobbing into her hands. He didn’t know, what to do.

The rain begun to die down. The blood mixed with the mud and water and soaked into the fabric of their pants.

Soon, someone was going to realize Yon Rha never returned from… wherever he was.

“Katara… we really need to go.” he said. She didn’t react.

They couldn’t stay there. Appa was hidden nearby. But she didn’t seem capable of getting there on her own.

 _I’m going to regret this_ , he thought, as he carefully lifted her off the ground and headed to the hiding place.

***

She felt her body shifting and the numb cold disappearing. She still was too numb to move much, but she leaned in on the warmth, hoping it would chase away the cold emptiness inside of her, too.

And then, it was gone.

She looked up. Appa was heading into the dark clouds and Zuko sat at the front, steering the bison. She bent the water out of her hair and clothes, sending it over the edge of the seat, careful not to hit Appa.

“I’m sorry.” Zuko said. “You weren’t responding, and I was worried someone would come looking for him.”

Of course. He carried her to Appa.

“No… it’s okay.” she shook her head. Her body still refused to remain still, even after she dried her clothes.

For next few minutes, they flew in silence. She slowly managed to calm down.

“Can I ask you something?” she finally spoke up again.

“Sure.”

“Have you ever killed someone?”

“No.” he shook his head.

“Then how can you be so calm about this?”

“Someone has to be.” he shrugged his shoulders. “Get some rest. You were awake this whole time.”

“I guess I can try.”

***

She headed away almost as soon as they landed. She strolled past Aang without even acknowledging him. He looked at Zuko, who just got off Appa’s back.

“What happened?” Aang asked. Zuko watched her disappear from the view, before answering.

“We found him.” Zuko said. “He didn’t make it.”

Aang frowned.

“She…?”

“She killed him, yes.” Zuko sighed. “she’s not handling it well.”

“Of course, she’s not!” Aang raised his voice. “How did it happen?”

“He wasn’t leading the Southern Raiders anymore – he retired to some village. We found him and she confronted him. She said, that she didn’t mean to kill him. That she just wanted to scare him, but… lost her focus.”

“But she did it.” Aang looked sad, as he petted Appa. “I thought she was better than this.”

“You know… you shouldn’t say that to her face. She’s enough of a mess on her own.”

Sokka walked up to them.

“Hey… I saw Katara, but… she didn’t even seem to notice me. What happened?”

“She killed the man, who killed your mother.” Zuko said. “She’s not handling it well.”

“Right…” Sokka nodded. “At least it’s over. One less scary guy looming over our heads.”

***

They walked down to the dock. She sat on the edge, feet dangling over the water.

“Hey…” Aang said. Katara looked up at him.

“What is it?”

“Zuko told me, what you did. I want you to know… I’m not mad at you. Just… disappointed.”

She stood up.

“You’re not the only one.” she sighed. “But you have to know it was impossible to forgive him.” she shook her head, looking at Zuko. “And… I’m ready to forgive you.”

She made a step forward and hugged him. Aang looked at them for a moment, before smiling a little.

She let him go and headed back to the camp. The two boys followed her with their eyes.

“You know, you were right, in a way. Violence wasn’t the right answer.” _But we all make choices we regret._

“It never is.”

“Then I have a question for you.” Zuko said, looking at him. “What will you do, when you face my father?”


End file.
